Labour councillor on Leeds City Council representing the people of Rothwell, Woodlesford, Oulton and Carlton

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Rothwell creche saved from immanent closure

Fantastic news today that Leeds City Council has decided to keep the crèche at Rothwell Leisure Centre open on a trial basis for a further six months from April. I’m sure other parents who use our leisure centre will be delighted at the news. I go swimming with my daughter Esme in the small pool at the centre and we always have great fun along with other families with small children. The centre is great for local families and the loss of the creche would have taken away from that.

Sadly, the hourly fee will have to increase from its current £2 to £4 to try and reduce the subsidy from the council and bring the charges more into line with what they should be (although the usual discounts for Leeds card extra etc will remain). Improvements will also be made to creche hours to better align them to activities so people can make the most of the creche here. I think that another problem the creche had was the lack of publicity so it’s good to hear that it will now be properly marketed. Simply putting a banner on the outside of the centre, as well as marketing via children’s centres, health visitors, expectant mums etc could see a lot more parents using the creche. It’s interesting that three organisations have shown interest in providing crèche services and the council is working with them to see if something can be done

All in all good news for all of us in the Rothwell area as the more people who use the centre the better!